“Corporations in the UN Business and Human Rights Treaty Negotiations”, April 2025

For the past 10 years, negotiations at the United Nations have been underway to develop a legally binding instrument on business and human rights (hereafter the Treaty or BHR Treaty)... However, despite this strong stakeholder involvement, relatively little attention has been paid to the role of corporations themselves in shaping the Treaty’s development and direction.

This report addresses this gap by providing an informative analysis of corporate participation in the BHR Treaty negotiations, highlighting key findings on corporate engagement, ways in which business associations influence the negotiation process, as well as risks and opportunities associated with the participation of businesses in the treaty negotiation process. The report seeks to inform on business involvement in the Treaty negotiations to date but does not advocate in favour or against this form of corporate engagement.

Key findings

The IOE, USCIB and ICC are the main voices of business interests in the BHR Treaty negotiations…

The IOE, USCIB and ICC’s positions appear to contradict recent business-led efforts in favour of mandatory regulation in the field of business and human rights…

Engaging businesses more directly on the topic of the BHR Treaty raises both risks and opportunities…

Corporate engagement in the BHR Treaty negotiation process can take various forms…

Recommendations

For States: ...

• Increase transparency on business participation and corporate influence on the negotiations.

For Businesses:

• Assess whether public support for business and human rights regulation is consistent with the statements and positions of business organisations engaged in the Treaty negotiations…

For Civil Society Organisations:

• Identify discrepancies between individual company positions and business associations’ lobbying...

[Business and Human Rights Resource Centre invited the IOE, USCIB and ICC to respond to allegations contained in the report. The organisations did not respond.]